Durmstrang
by Angel of Writing
Summary: Adriana Winter is the second best Seeker in the world, and attends Durmstrang Institute with one of her best buddies, Viktor Krum. She has a seemingly perfect life, a boyfriend, friends, the occasional enemy. But things change. People die, people kill.
1. Home Again

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters like Krum, J.K. owns them, but Adriana, Kristoff, Q, Blaze, Derek, and Pulchra are totally mine. I shall own them forever.

And a note for you: this takes place during the third book, which should clarify some issues.

* * *

**Chapter 1 Home Again  
**

The castle of Durmstrang Institute looked the same as it had the passed four years. The barren four story school with the many peaking towers and chimneys that already poured out smoke into the cool mountain air. The vast grounds that included a slightly oversized Quidditch field, a large clear blue lake, the mountains on their back doorstep, and the deep woods. And many small places in between to stop: the courtyard, the greenhouse, the large chess set, and the many scattered picnic tables and trees to sit under. The clouds were scattered, pouring light into the bare castle that housed its five hundred students.

"Only two more years to suffer through," said Adriana, lifting her head off of Kris' chest. She looked up into his hazel eyes and then once more out of the window. Durmstrang Institute. Sounded more like a prison for the criminally insane. Close enough for most of the kids that attended. But she had made friends, fallen in love, and made enemies there. It was more home for her than any place else.

"Come on, you two," called a voice from the hall of the train, "We're here!"

Adriana hadn't even realized that the train had stopped moving. She slowly got up and straightened out her dark red robes and threw on her coat. It always took a couple days to get used to the cold. They walked out of their small car and down the hall, Kris taking her hand from behind. She grasped it tightly, her own small, slender hand fitting into his large hand.

They walked off of the train, passing by all of the first years that had come and admired the castle. They really didn't know what they were getting themselves into. She and Kris walked hand in hand toward the looming castle and entered the large doors as they swung open for the students who passed through.

The dimly lit halls were illuminated mostly by the light that shone from the windows, but there were a few torches lit, as usual for the newer students who were still used to a lighter environment. The castle was scarcely decorated, not as lustrous as most. There were several pictures of past headmasters hanging on the entrance hall, with a few lit candelabras to light the way as well. No multitude of pictures or armor suits lining the hall.

They walked through behind the sixth year students, and entered the great grand hall. Candelabras and torches lined the pillars that shot up from the ground, making the room seem extra bright compared to the rest of the school. Four great mahogany tables were set up. One was the teacher's table off to the side, where Igor Karkaroff, their headmaster and former Death Eater, sat with the rest of the teachers. Professor Vivian Pulchra from Dark Arts class sat beside Karkaroff, her blonde hair draped about her shoulders, her blue yes staring out at the students. Her eyes fixed on Adriana, and she smiled. Adriana nodded and continued observing the tables.

The three table were set according to the rank each student received from arriving, and your were set with that rank for all six years at the school. The rank of each student consisted of character, ability, and aptitude. The highest on the chain of ranks was Isaura, of which Adriana was herself. And Kris. Not only were they some of the most intelligent, but they were some of the most conniving, creative, dark, and witty. The second was Kaelin. They were some of the more wise characters, not out to do as much evil as giving advice. Because of this, they were also very intelligent. The last of the ranks was Pyralis. The headstrong of the ranks. They were always up for something, extremely lively and jovial, and also extremely moody. Adriana had a habit of not liking the people of Pyralis.

She and Kris took a seat at the Isaura table, among friends. Blaze, Derek, and Q sat around them, along with Adriana's friendly rival, the ever-so-famous Viktor Krum. They were both competing in the upcoming Quidditch World Cup, Viktor playing for the Bulgarians, and Adriana playing for the Irish. She was determined to beat him.

"So, you two still going out?" asked Blaze from across the table, his deep red hair and brown eyes turned to the two. Adriana quirked her eyebrow at him. Did he even have to ask?

Q laughed at her. Quanta Jules. She had been Adriana's best friend since the first day of school, the only one who had come to speak to her on the train ride to the school, she was in her year and was great to be around. Her straight brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail as it was everyday, her long bangs hanging out around her light brown eyes, her skin was tanned and smooth as ever.

"Can't you see they are?" said Derek, his green eyes falling upon Kris and Adriana's hands entwined on top of the table. "Are you blind, Blaze?"

"Bloody hell, how was I supposed to know?" said Blaze, hanging his head down, twiddling his knobby fingers carefully.

"You guys, look at the wave of newbies," said Kris, suddenly turning to the line of incoming first-years. Adriana saw the line of kids and the nervous looks that were on their faces as they proceeded to the head of the hall to be judged. She remembered the first time that she had done that. She had been nervous, but not as nervous as most would have been. Being put into your rank wasn't as nerve-racking as you thought it to be when you first arrived. All they did was cast some sort of thick liquid onto you, just a couple drops, and waited to see what happened. Each rank had a certain symbol that went with it. Isaura was a tornado, or air. Kaelin was water, or a waterfall. Pyralis was fire or a volcano. Whatever it was, a tornado, waterfall, or volcano that appeared over your head was what rank you were. Quick, effective way to get things done and over with.

Karkaroff stood from behind the teacher's table and the hall was instantly quiet and free from sound. He was dressed in his dark black robes, as usual, and his graying black hair and beard fell about his shoulders.

"I'd like to welcome everyone back from their break," he started, "And I'd like to welcome all of our new students to Durmstrang Institute of Magic. You are the privileged and worthy of being here. We will begin the night with ranking. Welcome, everyone!"

Clapping erupted in the hall, and Karkaroff took a seat once more as Professor Orin started shouting out names. Orin was the Herbology teacher, tall and lanky with the oversized eyeglasses that constantly slipped down his large nose.

"Abalin, Patty," he called out. A small girl with large blue eyes, and straw blonde hair stepped up slowly. Orin dropped two droplets of liquid onto her head, and a small waterfall appeared above her head. "Kaelin," said Orin, and directed the girl to the Kaelin table, where she was greeted warmly.

"So, you worried about the Cup?" asked Derek quietly, trying to keep his voice low. Adriana turned to him and shook her head.

"No, not really," she said. "We have practice about everyday after school this week, then we have off the day before to get some rest."

"Come on," said Derek, "You're not worried about going up against Krum?"

Adriana looked at Krum, who sat two people away from Blaze. His grey eyes were focused upon her, and Adriana smiled at his strong jaw, dark eyebrows, and nearly shaven head.

"Why should I be?" she asked, turning back to Derek. "We're basically equals in this sport, and we know what each other can do. I'm pretty sure we're both up for a little friendly competition."

"To the extreme," said Kris beside her. "Karkaroff's giving us the latter part of next week off to go see it. You know how proud he is to have two of his students playing in the QWC."

"Tell me about it," said Adriana. "What do you want to bet that he'll mention it in his spiel? And then he's going to drag us up there and embarrass us."

"I'm not going for that," said Blaze, "You know he's going to talk about you two. Everything's always Winter and Krum, Winter and Krum. When will it not be about you?"

"When one of us dies," said Viktor from down the table. Adriana laughed. He not only was a great Seeker, but also was a great joker.

"No," laughed Adriana, "then all the talk will be about how Adriana Winter has died and how everyone is going to the funeral, and how Viktor Krum is mourning the loss. I still think that talk will about one – if not both – of us for a long time in the Quidditch world."

"What a nightmare," said Viktor. He and Adriana both burst into laughter. Adriana was instantly silenced when she caught a glance from Vivian at the teacher's table. Viktor quieted also, and their conversation was staggered for a while. Viktor was an awesome guy, also in her year. Extremely handsome, always on the run from girls, just as she was from the boys, but now that she had Kris…

After a while, the ranking had ended, and Karkaroff stood once more to make his beginning of the year speech. "Now that we are all in our ranks and comfortable, I'd like to first congratulate two of our fifth year students on a great victory. These two students are to compete in the Quidditch World Cup next weekend, and I'm giving you from Wednesday to Monday off to go and enjoy watching your fellow school mates play in this wondrous event. I'd like them to stand, if they would. Viktor Krum and Adriana Winter!"

Adriana rolled her eyes and smirked at her friends and rose swiftly as Krum did, and they received great applause. They quickly sat back down and shook their heads.

"Thank you," said Karkaroff continuing, "All of your baggage has been moved into the dorm towers, and your head person will lead you to the dorm and provide you with the appropriate password after everyone has finished eating. I welcome you all once more back to Durmstrang and enjoy the feast!"

With those words, food instantly appeared on the tables. Chicken, ribs, any kind of meat you could of, with an even bigger number of side dishes. Adriana quickly filled her large plate and began to eat. She had eaten nothing on the train and was starving. She looked up at Blaze, who was staring at her eating.

"What?" she said, her mouth stuffed with potatoes. She swallowed quickly and looked around. "What's the matter? Is there a gnome on my head or something?"

"They're amazed you're eating so much," said Kris, shoving his fork into his mouth.

"What? You guys know I eat a lot," said Adriana. "I'm skinny, but hell, in four years, you haven't seen me eat this much. I can't say I eat as much as Vik over there, but I come pretty close. Lots of energy for working out."

Adriana was greeted with no replies, and continued eating once again. Every time she glanced up at the teachers' table, she saw that Vivian was looking at her, giving her this odd look that she couldn't place. Vivian Pulchra was the greatest teacher that Adriana had. She was young, had a dark sense of humor, vibrant, and let the students call her by her first name. As she ate and felt that gaze upon her, Adriana had the growing feeling that something was going to happen soon.

Something bad….

* * *

The feast had ended and all of the students were starting to leave. Isaura first, then Kaelin, then Pyralis as was the custom on the first day, just for a little order. Adriana rose with the rest of her table and walked beside Kris as they started to make their way to the Closet. The Closets were the room in which all the students of a rank could sit and chat before heading up to the dorm towers.

They left the Hall behind along with Norm Preacher, the head boy who had the responsibility of showing the first years around the castle and giving them the years new password. Every year their password had been some type of animal. The password for their fifth year was 'Lethifold.'

Adriana walked beside Kris through the plain halls, with only a few pictures to watch them go by. They walked side by side, Derek, Blaze, Q, and Viktor following behind. Soon enough, they heard squealing from behind. Adriana turned and saw a large group of first year girls, and a group of second year boys behind them, running toward them. Viktor cast an exhausted look at her and he started running. Adriana took one last look back at the quickly approaching students and realized how close they really were.

"See you guys in the Closet!" she yelled to her friends and took off behind Viktor. Viktor was as graceful on the ground as he was in the air, as was she. They ran swiftly through the halls, navigated their way quietly to the small door at the west wing of the fourth floor. They bolted up the stairs, the squealing girls and boys following behind closely.

They ran down the west hallway and ran to a wall at the end of the hall that had a small tornado marking on the center of the wall with a small picture of a man looking down above it and stopped.

"Lethifold!" said Adriana, watching as the kids approached them quickly, running and tripping over each other's feet and long coats. A door appeared in the wall and swung open for them, and they threw themselves inside, the door closing tightly behind them.

The Closet wasn't, as Adriana had thought when she first came, the size of a closet. It was a huge room with a blazing fireplace roaring in the center of the room, the walls decorated with several pictures and black, silver, and purple curtains and candles, giving the room a soft light. A piano sat in the near corner of the room, placed there by her and several other students' request, and several couches and chairs were placed around the fire on soft black carpets. The windows didn't give much light, and the sky was getting darker. The sun was setting.

Adriana fell laughing onto the piano bench while Viktor sat on the couch nearest the piano. "Bloody kids," said Adriana, striking a chord on the piano. She had always gotten good acoustics in the room, and frequently snuck down in the night to play it.

"First day blues, as usual," said Viktor, sprawling out on the couch, his muscular body taking up most of it. "So, you're not worried about the Cup?"

Adriana struck another chord on the piano, this time dark. "No," she replied, turning to face him. "What's there to be worried about? It's just another game, just with more screaming fans is all. We have practice tomorrow."

"Right," said Viktor. "So do we. Three o'clock."

"Six," replied Adriana. Three hours practices for the both of them. They had both been provided a portkey that would take them to the field for practice that had been given to Orin for safekeeping. They would go to him when it was time for their practice and he would give it to them.

"I'm just going to go up to the dorms," said Viktor, rising from the couch and walking to the spiral staircase on the left. "First pick."

"Good idea," said Adriana jumping up and headed to the staircase on the right. "See you later, Vik."

"Later, Adri," said Viktor. Adriana walked up the steel spiral stairs up into the girls' dorm area. Chests were lying at the foot of every bed, as she spotted her own at the very last bunk bed, with the empty cage of Percy lying in a corner. Q's chest was beside hers, as usual. They had figured out that they were friends and always bunked them together. Each bed had an alternating color. Their bed was black, the next purple, the next silver, then black and on and on. Enough beds for all of them.

A knocking on the window caught Adriana's attention. There was Percival, her hawk, knocking her beak on the window. She walked to the window and opened it, letting in the cool air and Percy. Her yellow talons were long and sharp, perfect for picking up prey, her beak sharp for the same purpose. Her eyes were a bright yellow against her solid dark brown feathers. Adriana petting the top of her head, and she squawked happily. Adriana heard noise coming from down stairs and people coming up the stairs. Percy took off into the growing dark, and Adriana shut the window, watching her fly off gracefully in the air.

"Hey, Adri," said Q, walking into the dorm. "Having fun running away from the first years?"

"Loads," laughed Adriana, turning to her. "I have practice everyday until the Cup."

"So I've heard," said Q, sitting on the bottom of their bed. "You're going to kick ass at that. I've got tickets, but they aren't very good seats."

"Who cares?" said Adriana. "You'll still get to see me show off on my lovely new broom. I got the new Firebolt for my birthday."

"Awesome," said Q. "Only two more years. Counting this one, of course. Then we'll be off into the world. You're taking Dark Arts with Pulchra, of course."

"Of course," said Adriana. "Dark Arts, Advanced Potions, Care for Magical Creatures, Advanced Transfiguration –"

"Wait, didn't you get your Animagus certification over the summer?" asked Q, sitting up excitedly, her brown eyes wide.

"Yep," said Adriana. "You are now looking at a registered hawk animagus."

"Hawk," said Q sarcastically, "Bird. Big surprise. Who didn't know you would choose something that could fly?"

"Shut up, Q," said Adriana. "Let's go down and try to be sociable."

They walked down to the Closet and greeted new and old alike, laughing at the first years who were amazed by the pure size of the fireplace in the middle of the floor, and the kids who swore that they weren't going to come back who had. Kris sat on one of the couches sitting beside one some of the fourth years, and Adriana ran over and sat on top of him. He laughed and wrapped his arms around her.

Adriana laughed with him and saw Viktor watching from the piano bench. She smiled at him and yanked Kris off of the couch and dragged him to the piano.

"Stay there, Kristoff," she said, placing Kris beside the piano, and sitting down beside Viktor at the piano. "You're fine, Viktor," she said when she saw that he was moving to get up. "Okay, chums, we're going to have fun our first day back, and we're going to sing somebody's favorite song, which just happens to be a certain Irish drinking song. Too bad we don't have any butterbeer. Let's go!"

The room got quiet as the piano started to play the jovial melody, and people started laughing when the six of them started to sing the song, but they joined in quickly, singing loudly and happily as Adriana's hands flew across the keys. Finally, the song came to a close, and everyone applauded and laughed happily as the door to the Closet opened, and Vivian Pulchra stepped in the door.

"So I see you're making people happy once again," said Vivian, her blue eyes tearing through Adriana as she bowed to the rest of Isaura. "Good. To anyone who doesn't know, I am Professor Vivian Pulchra, or just Professor Vivian, and I teach the Dark Arts class. I'm also this rank's head teacher, so I'm in charge of what things go on around here. That just means no killing each other or anything, which I don't think will be a problem if Adriana keeps playing that piano. I'd like to welcome all of you to Durmstrang and the Isaura home, and I hope you all enjoy your year."

The people of Isaura applauded, Vivian bowed and walked out of the room slowly and said before she closed the door: "Yeah, lights out is at eleven, so be in bed by then so I don't have to do anything."

The door shut and everyone spoke again. Adriana turned around at the piano to face the fire, as did Krum, and Kris shuffled Adriana's hair, laughing. Maybe the year wasn't going to be as bad as she thought.


	2. Love, Lust, and Quidditch

Disclaimer: Same as before, I don't own any of the HP characters, but Adri and the rest are mine.

* * *

**Chapter 2 Love, Lust, and Quidditch  
**

Adriana stood in Orin's office, waiting for Viktor to come back from his practice so she could head off to hers. She wished that he would hurry. She already had a Magical Creatures essay and a Dark Arts paper that she had to write. She hadn't seen Kris in three days except for in DA, and she wanted to get practice over with, even though she loved it. Quidditch was so invigorating, flying at fast speeds high above the ground, hearing the roar of the crowd-

Viktor Krum crashed to the floor of Professor Orin's office, soaking wet, his robes drenched. He gave the small tattered book to Orin, and stood up shivering. He smiled at Adriana and shrugged.

"It's raining a little bit," he said.

"Oh my," said Professor Orin, grabbing a small blanket from behind his desk and giving it to Viktor. "Warm up. We don't want you catching a cold. And you be careful, Miss Winter, we don't need you catching one either."

Adriana nodded and grabbed her Firebolt. "Is it cold yet?"

"It's still fairly warm," said Viktor. "It's just rain."

"See you later," said Adriana, taking the portkey from Orin. She had finally gotten used to the stomach-wrenching feeling of using a portkey, and the air that felt like it was yanked from her lungs. Her eyes were slits, and she let go of the book and went flying. She still hadn't mastered the landing. She fell on the ground. Hard. She had landed on wet grass, and her robes were instantly wet. Her Firebolt and the little book had landed beside her.

"Winter!" shouted a voice from her right. Adriana rose and saw that Seamus Marley was running toward her, his hair plastering to his forehead as he ran out into the rain. "I'll keep the portkey safe for you," he said, grabbing the book and running into the safe, dry walls. Adriana followed and entered the team locker room. She was the only girl on the team, but not the smallest. The shortest member of the team was Pat Wallace, one of their Beaters, a good two inches shorter than she was.

"Just a normal practice you guys," said Marley, their Keeper and team captain. "We don't really want to overdue it before the big day. The Bulgarians are good, but we can get them if we all work together."

"Yeah," said Travis, the other Beater who was the definition of Irish: orange-red hair, blue eyes, freckles, pale, tall, skinny, the works. "No pressure on you, Adri, or anything, but there's a lot of pressure on you, girly."

"Oh, thanks," said Adriana, pulling her hair back and quickly putting it in a ponytail. "And who're you calling girly, Travis? Who's the one who was afraid of the spider in the locker room? Not you, surely."

Travis said nothing but looked around and blushed deeply.

"Okay," said Marley, smiling. "You've got him there. We don't need any bickering. Normal practice. Should be over by eight-thirty or nine. Alright, let's get out there."

Everyone hopped on their brooms and took off into the harsh field lights and steady rain. Adriana loved Quidditch.

* * *

Adriana landed on the soft carpet of Professor Orin's office, her hair and robes sufficiently drenched from three hours of practice in the rain. She had thought that it would have stopped after about an hour, but it hadn't. The second they walked inside the locker room, the rain stopped. Just her luck. It was much warmer in his office than outside, and she was freezing.

'Here you go, Miss Winter," said Orin, draping a coat over her shoulder. "Mister Krum brought this in here for you after you left."

"Thanks, Professor," said Adriana, taking her coat and walking out of the office into the dark hall. She could still see a few students flying around the grounds for a quick after-nightfall trip. She walked through the halls, becoming warmer as she walked.

As she walked toward the Closet, she thought about something. 'Mister Krum brought this in here for you…' She smiled at the thought. Viktor had become a good buddy of hers their first year at the Quidditch try-outs. They were the only of the ranks to have two Seekers who were equally good and excelled against everyone. After four years of being together, their bond was strong, but Adriana got the feeling that she was starting to like him more than that. But she still had Kris. Her dear Kris. Their one-year anniversary was two weeks before their Christmas vacation. And she couldn't wait to see what he was going to do for her.

"Why look, if it isn't Miss Quidditch," said a familiar, raspy voice behind her. Stan. "Why don't you stop and talk to me? You too good for me?"

Adriana tried her hardest to contain her temper. She clenched her fists, her grip tightening around her broom.

Didn't work.

"As a matter of fact," said Adriana, her voice tightening. "I am. Now go back to the hole you came out of, scum."

"Oh, come on, baby," said Stan, his voice growing closer. "You know you want me." Adriana heard him utter the paralyzing spell and whipped around, her wand at the ready.

"_Finite Incantatem!" _ She shouted, and his spell was stopped. She jumped on her Firebolt and sped through the halls of the school, being sure to avoid any teachers that roamed the school. They weren't allowed to ride brooms in the school, but in a situation like that, she pretended she hadn't heard that little rule.

"Come back here!" yelled Stan, his footfalls becoming less audible and she sped up the staircase. Stan was her biggest problem at Durmstrang. He was actually pretty handsome, but on the inside, he was blacker than the feathers of Percy. He was cold-hearted and always out to get what he wanted, and that was money, fame, power, more money, and her.

Adriana jumped off of her broom when she turned the corner to the west wing of the fourth floor and approached the wall.

"Lethifold," she said, and the door appeared. She walked into the Closet, and saw that only a few people remained downstairs. A sixth year reading a book and a second year who was frantically finishing a paper. They looked up and saw her enter, and they instantly left the room, going up to the dorms. She couldn't see their eyes, but she felt like something was wrong.

She ran upstairs to grab some dry robes so she could go take a quick shower before she went to bed. She ran up to the dorms and saw that Q was already asleep, as were half of the other girls that. She threw off her coat and grabbed the robes that she normally slept in and went back downstairs. She loved their Closet. Theirs was the only one that was fairly close to a bathroom. She ran out once again, and took a hot shower, allowing her muscles to relax from the practice. She walked once more out into the hallway and saw that Vivian was walking toward the Closet.

"Hey, Professor Vivian," said Adriana, running a little ways to catch up with her. She fell into step beside her and walked to the Closet.

"Hey Adriana," she said, giving her a quick smile, flashing her perfect white teeth. "How was practice?"

"Cold and wet, other than that, it was good."

"Good," said Vivian. "World Cup's in two days. You nervous?"

"No," said Adriana. "Thank God we have the next five days off. I'd die if we had school tomorrow. Not that I don't enjoy it, you see. It just be extra pressure."

"Right," said Vivian. "Well, I guess I'll see you at the Cup."

"You're coming?" asked Adriana. She didn't seem like one to go to that sort of thing.

"Why not?" said Vivian. "Half the school's going, and two of my best students are in it. What a better way to spend my weekend off?"

"Well, I hope to see you in the audience," said Adriana.

"Good luck, and good night," said Vivian, walking out of the Closet. The door shut behind her, and Adriana sat at the piano, sat her things down on the bench beside her and began to play her favorite song, "Fur Elise." She sat and played quietly at the piano, the fire casting a warm glow on her back. She cast up a look at the picture of the young girl above her. Adriana smiled as she saw her yawn and hop into her bed, a soft smile on her face.

Adriana loved playing that piano. She even received notes thanking her for lulling the people of Isaura to sleep. She kept playing, her hands flying across the keys, her mind lost in the music, absolved into the melody.

The night flew by.

* * *

Viktor woke in his bed to a soft sound. Just over the snoring of one of the third years, he could hear the playing of the piano in the Closet. Adriana. Always the one to stay up and do her own thing. Viktor slipped out of bed and walked down the stairs quietly into the large room. He stopped at the bottom and saw Adriana sitting at the piano, her back to him, the dying fire casting a red glow on her black hair.

"What're you doing up this late, Krum?" said Adriana quietly, her music never hesitating, and her head turning slightly to the side. "You should be asleep."

"So should you," said Viktor, taking a seat on the couch closest to the piano. Adriana brought the song to a close and turned to him, her normally blue eyes glowing red. "You're always up playing the piano. Helps most of the guys fall asleep."

"I know," said Adriana, "Kris told me. I guess my music has that effect on people."

"Yeah," he said, tearing his eyes from her. He couldn't hardly stand it anymore. Their first year, Adriana was this small, shy, piano playing girl who was amazing at Quidditch. Now she was grown, beautiful no longer shy – if not extremely confident – piano playing woman who was amazing at Quidditch. Who also had a boyfriend, who was one of his friends.

"Viktor?" he head Adriana's voice, worried.

"What?" he asked, looking at her once again.

"You zoned out on me," she said, smiling. "I asked if you were worried about the Cup. Two more days."

"Like you said, it's just the same, but with more screaming fans," said Viktor. "it's my second, your first. It's nothing to be worried about, Adri. All you have to do is go out there, have fun, and try to beat me."

"Oh, that won't be that hard," said Adriana.

"You sure you can beat out the Wronski Feint?" joked Viktor. They had a great competitive spirit between them, and he was the only one who wanted more than that.

"I'll show you the Winter Feint," said Adriana, jumping up and walking towards the stairs. "But you'll have to wait for that. Now, go to bed, Krum. I don't want this to be too easy."

Viktor smiled to the fire as Adriana's robes disappeared up the stairs without a sound.

She was so going down.

* * *

"So, Krum, you're not going to take it easy on the girl, are you?" asked Dimitrov, placing his large hand on Viktor's shoulder.

"Wouldn't think of it," said Viktor. Even if he tried, Adriana wouldn't let him do that. She was going to be the one who needed to let up.

"You know you like her," said Dimitrov, a grin coming across his scraggly face.

"She's my friend," said Viktor, "I'm allowed to try and beat her." He knew that he was avoiding answering the question. Truth was, he didn't know how to answer it himself. They were friends, true, and he liked her, but he didn't know how much.

"I'd kill him if he didn't try," said Adriana coming from behind Dimitrov. She was dressed in the green Irish robes, followed by the rest of her teammates. "Being the only girl in the cup, I have the responsibility of representing all women Quidditch players and I intended on winning this, and if Viktor holds back, I'll kill him. By the way, good afternoon, Viktor," she said politely, stopping in front of him.

"Good afternoon, Adriana," he replied. They stood looking at each other for a moment, the roar from the crowd and the massive amounts of talking reached their ears from the large stadium outside of the room. Viktor was getting pumped for the big entrance.

"Alright everyone," shouted a voice. Viktor looked down the line of people and saw Cornelius Fudge, the great English Minister of Magic approaching. "I'd like on congratulate you all for making it here and to wish you all good luck. Play fair, you all know the rules, and don't kill each other. The Ministry doesn't need that. I wish you all good luck, and now, if you would all shake hands."

Adriana turned away from Viktor, and he started shaking the hands of his opponents one by one, Adriana avoiding him all the time. There was no one left but her, and she was shaking the hand of Fudge. She smiled, Fudge released her hand, and she approached him.

"Good luck, Viktor," she said, hugging him around his neck. She placed a quick kiss on his cheek. Whistles erupted. "Time for the Winter Feint," she smiled as she pulled away and walked towards the Irish. He didn't even know how she could be Irish. She had the fair skin, but she had black hair, most likely from her father, Vincent Winter, one of the leaders of the Azkaban Board, as was her mother, Diana Winter. They were highly respected in the Ministry, and had a great deal of power in their hands. Viktor finally turned back to his fellow Bulgarians.

"Shut up, you guys! Bloody hell! Be mature! Kissing him doesn't mean I love him!" Adriana's voice carried back to him. He smiled as Ivanova, the Keeper, grabbed his shoulder and yanked in him into the group of teammates.

"Wait to go, Krum!" they said, patting him on the shoulder and back, "We knew you liked her!"

"Alright, come on, guys," he said, shaking them off and grabbing his broom from the rack on the wall. "We have to get ready."

"Right," said Dimitrov, grabbing his broom in fashion. "Alright, huddle up, you guys. You guys know how this goes. Go out there, do your thing, play hard. We know how they work, and we can beat them. Lastly, Krum – don't let the girl distract you."

Viktor laughed along with the rest of the team and they hopped on their brooms and flew out, getting ready for their entrance. Fudge finished him announcement, and Viktor waited for their time. The adrenaline was flowing through his veins. He saw the packed stadium below with all of the screaming fans, and he was getting fidgety on the broom, wanting to fly as fast as he could and feel the wind in his face as he darted about.

He saw the green shamrock fireworks explode, filling the stadium with their green shine, and the Irish come flying out, Adriana barely visible as she flew through the stadium. They took off toward the giant shamrock, flew through it, and it burst into red sparks. Massive cheers as Viktor entered the stadium. He took the opportunity, and pulled one of his own tricks. He lifted his legs off of the broom, and supporting his body with only his arms. Krum sped around the field, pumping his fist and flying along the giant board that showed that his image. His fed off of the cheers of "Krum! Krum! Krum!"

Suddenly, he felt a quick breeze and fabric brush by, a blur of green and black hair whipping by quickly, and the cheers quickly turned to "Winter! Winter! Winter!" Viktor watched as the board turned into a giant of Adriana, and she pulled off what had to be one of her many tricks. He still couldn't wait to see the Winter Feint…

She took her hands off of the broom and jumped up, balancing perfectly on her broom as she flew around the field, not tottering once on the broom stick. She was smiling broadly, and she was bowing to the crowd. Classic Adriana. Out to show off as much as he did.

"Let the game begin," said Viktor to himself and flew up into the sky.


End file.
